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Phil Dunphy
Philip Humphrey "Phil" Dunphy is Claire's 47-year-old husband of 20 years who sees himself as the "cool dad." He dotes on his wife Claire and constantly tries to find ways to bond with his three kids. He is seen as very competitive, some examples being his nature of always beating his son at basketball. He has a very childlike attitude and is referred to by Claire as the "kid she's]married to." He uses a parenting method that he calls "peerenting", which is a combination of talking like a peer, but acting like a parent. He is a real estate agent who is very confident in his work, once saying "I could sell a fur coat to an Eskimo". Personality Claire's Overview Claire generally refers to Phil as "the kid she's married to." Her opinions about uptight ways of parenting almost always serve as a foil to Phil's calmness and tendencies to be too laid-back about many important things, such as his oldest daughter Haley wearing a short and tight skirt to school, which he called "cute." In "Hawaii", Phil revealed that they were supposed to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon, but Claire got pregnant with Haley before they could go. He also reveals that he had to beg Claire to marry him. In "Strangers on a Treadmill", it is shown that Claire does not find Phil funny, though this opinion changes by the end of the episode. Jay's Overview Jay gets along with and views Phil like many stereotypical in-laws do, much to Claire's chagrin. Claire says that the relationship between Phil and Jay is very strained, and she has tried on many occasions to bond the two of them. One of these attempts ended with Jay presumably flying an airplane into Phil's face. It is never figured out whether this was intentional or an accident. The result of this was complaints from Claire, Gloria, and Mitchell; which led to Jay hugging Phil and Cameron. Physical appearance and typical attire Phil is in good shape and likes to prove his manliness. He is often seen wearing a dress shirt and trousers. On the show's two Valentine's Day episodes, "My Funky Valentine" and "Bixby's Back", Phil has taken on an alter ego of Clive Bixby (ergo the name for the latter episode) to go role-playing with Claire, who also took on an alter ego. Both attempts went horribly wrong and ended in either Phil or Claire being in a tight position. Quirks and personality traits Phil is generally goofy and often doesn't plan things through. He is often paired with Claire, one of the kids, or Jay to drive the story. He considers himself to be the "cool dad," which his children often disagree with. He goes to extremes to bond with his children, going so far as to learn the dances to songs from High School Musical and wearing a custom jacket featured in the film. He is also shown to be very competitive, not even allowing his son to score a basket out of pity while playing basketball with him. Phil suffers from coulrophobia, intense fear of clowns. This was revealed in the episode "Fizbo", when Cameron came to Luke's birthday party dressed as a clown. He has addressed this and says that his mother thinks the fear originated from him finding a dead clown in the woods one day when he was little. Phil's laid-back way of handling situations often gets him into chain reaction situations in which the problem grows after every event. He often has to lie to avoid getting into trouble with Claire, though she always ends up finding out in the end, often leaving Phil in embarrassment. Phil is apparently very good at choosing presents, this is said by Claire in a few episodes, these episodes usually involve Claire having to get Phil a birthday/anniversary present which she is very bad at. Interests Phil, along with Claire, has shown an interest for "cheesy cinema". His other interests include sports, his job, watching the nature channel and working with computers and technology. He is also shown in "Up All Night" to have an interest in close-up magic. Phil also loves trampolines and subscribes to a trampoline magazine. He always talks about being a 'male cheerleader' in college. Relationships Family Haley Haley is Phil's oldest daughter. He tries hard to be the cool dad with her, but it only leads to her embarrassment. Phil gets emotional when he realizes that his little girl is growing up and that she is not his little girl any more. Haley reminds him that she will always be his little girl. Alex Alex is Phil's youngest daughter. He also tries to be the cool dad with Alex, bonding with her to solve a problem or to talk about something serious, but she ends thinking that it's weird and considers him an idiot, but she loves him nonetheless. In "Starry Night", Alex thinks that Phil and Luke have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). In "The Last Walt", Phil realizes that Walt, who passed away, never fixed his estrangement from his daughter and he decides that he does not want the same thing to happen with himself and Alex, so he sets out with her for some great stories to replace the empty gallery of Phil-Alex moments. All his attempts to create something special (he even tries to get a woman in labor so they can help her deliver since no one else is around to do it) fail and when Alex asks him why he is acting so weird, he tells her that he just wants to create a special memory for her. Alex tells him she will always remember how her father spent the entire day trying to create a memory for her. Luke Luke is Phil's youngest and only male child. He bases his relationship with his son on his own relationship with his father Frank - he saw his dad as a more of a buddy and close friend than a parent while growing up, and so wanted Luke to see him the same way. As they are the only two males in the family, they form a really close bond with each other and are often seen coming up with various schemes and ideas to try together. He loves a lot Luke and viceversa, as in many episodes it has been shown his family love towards him: In the "Pilot", Phil has to shoot Luke with a BB gun because he shot his sister with, Alex, with that gun. But when he is just about to shoot Luke, Phil sees that he is scared, thinks that he has learned the lesson and he decides to not shoot him, although he accidentally ends shooting him. In "Fears", Phil tries to retrieve Luke's toy truck, even he is very scared of getting into a hot water pipe where is the toy. In "The Late Show", Phil reveals that of his 3 children, Luke is his favorite. Despite having so much in common and relate very well, they don't have exactly the same likes and dislikes: In "Fizbo", it is revealed that Phil is afraid of clowns, while Luke loves them. In "The Butler's Escape", Luke is not interested of being a magician, which disappoints Phil, because he loves magic, but he finally tells Luke that whatever he decide, he will always support him. In "And One to Grow On", Phil wants to set Luke on a dance class, which he dislikes, because Phil says that he comes from a long line of dancing Dunphys. Jay Jay is Phil's father-in-law. He tries really, really hard to gain approval from Jay and Jay is very stubborn at not giving him any. It is almost as if Jay doesn't like Phil at all, but Jay tells Phil directly that he liked him. Once to Jay's dismay, he accidentally told Phil that he loved him, but Phil was too busy and didn't hear it. Jay introduces Phil as "Phil is my son-in-law," but Phil says it sounds like he is saying, "Phyllis, my son-in-law." Phil also complains that Jay says "Dumb-phy" instead of "Dunphy." Phil once fixed Jay's printer and since it is Phil's only accomplishment with Jay, he brings it up every chance he gets. Gloria Gloria is Phil's step-mother-in-law. He has a crush on her, once staring at Gloria through Claire's sunglasses. Gloria is seemingly oblivious. Jay says nothing of it because Phil knows not to cross the line, saying he would never stray away from Claire. He takes any and all chances to hug or touch her, except once when he realizes that Claire is the most important thing that ever happened to him. But this quickly changes back. Manny They have not spent much time together, but when they have, Phil treats him almost like a son instead of a brother-in-law, which he is. Mitchell Mitchell is Phil's brother-in-law. They don't spend much time together, but they treat each other like brothers. In "Strangers on a Treadmill", Mitch tries to tell Phil that his jokes for the the SCARB (Southern California Annual Realtors Banquet) are unfunny, but Mitch can't go through it after seeing Phil's sad face. In "Tableau Vivant", Phil has to find a way to tell Mitch, that he is fired from his part-time job at the real estate agency. When Phil goes to Mitch's house to tell him about his dismissal while Mitch also tries to tell him that he does not want to continue working at the estate agency. Mitch bails out and he does not say anything and Phil believes that Mitch understood what he was trying to tell him. When Mitch appears at the agency later, Phil no having other choice, he finally tells him. Mitch is stuck in the elevator for two hours knowing he has been fired. The idea of losing his job does not seem to thrill him since he has never been fired before in his life. Romance Claire Phil and Claire have been married for 20 years, as in "A Fair to Remember", they celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. He acts as a foil to Claire's uptightedness and need to stick to rules. Although they are very different in personalities, it's clear that he really loves her and continuously makes an effort to let her know that, although sometimes that backfires as he has a tendency to mix things up, thus sending off the wrong meaning. Claire loves him too, but often refers to him as her fourth kid, as he has a tendency to act childish in a goofy and impulsive way. Although he loves Claire, he is seen to be easily mesmerized with beautiful women, especially Gloria; however he does state that he would never stray from Claire. They compliment each other's parenting style and are incredibly supportive of each other, whenever needed. Trivia *His middle name, Humphrey, it is revealed in "The Wedding (Part 2)". *He, Claire, Mitch, Cam, Jay, and Gloria have appeared in every episode. Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Adults Category:Dunphy Family Category:Featured Articles